BOSE... (Bland Overpriced Sucky Equipment) (1 Viewer)

[JeremyR]

I hadn't been home (3 hours away) since Christmas to my father's house which was before I got my new Paradigm Titans, Atoms, and CC-170 after the Holidays from my wonderful wife for a present


Last year when my Dad came up to visit, we went to a local retailer and he made a big purchase of upgrading his entire home theater from a Yamaha HTIB with Pro Logic surround to an entirely new setup of Bose 301 mains, the Bose VCS-10 center, and those Bose 161's for surrounds, along with a very nice Kenwood Sovereign Receiver (which I'd love to have) and Sovereign DVD Player. It's such a shame he's using that great receiver to produce completely lifeless sound. I didn't realize how dull, and unenthusiastic Bose speakers really were. I knew the Acoustimass weren't very good, but now I think I've come to the realization that all Bose speakers are apparently poor sounding. Back when he bought them I was so impressed, and was begging my wife to let me upgrade my HTIB Kenwood speakers to the Bose because, naturally, they did sound a little better. Had I known then what I know now from the benefit of this forum, you really need to go and shop around and listen to other equipment. My Dad was so set on Bose, he didn't even go listen to the Infinity or Polk equipment the retailer sold as well, much less go to the local dealer and check out offerings from Paradigm, Boston, B&W and the like. My Digms running off a standard run-of-the-mill Kenwood receiver absolutely blow his Bose out of teh water off his much nicer receiver and DVD player. Further proof that you first, need to spend the most on your speakers, and as long as you have a receiver of reasonable quality your speakers will make the most difference in the sound. I'm sure that new Sovereign receiver would really make my new Paradigms come to life, but alas, it is destined to a future of driving sub-par speakers that sound totally lifeless. Unfortunately, for my father, he is coming up in a couple of weeks. I haven't, yet, told him how much better my surround system sounds, but he did get a glimpse of what could have been when I took him to the local Paradigm dealer in his town which seemed to make him unhappy he didn't shop around more, and had instead fallen into the trap that is the Bose media machine with their engineered sound. Poorly produced sound, no matter how engineered it might be, will produce, you guessed it, poor sound. Maybe I'll just leave my home theater off while he visits, so that he can go on living and believing that he made the best possible choice. Naaaaahhhhh......

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

How much did he pay for his bose speakers? Becuase I know that receiver and DVD can run upwards of $1000-$4000 for the combo. But he doesnt have to give that up.

 

[JeremyR]

I know.. it seemed a bit odd to me that the receiver ended up costing more than his speakers did...:frowning: I think the receiver and DVD player ran him around $2500 and teh speakers in the neighborhood of $700 or so. Again.. we didn't know much of what we were doing (and I still wouldn't without the help of most of you).



But again, at the time, we'd had Bose driven into our heads to be the choice for quality and sound. He was having a hard time deciding between the Kenwood Sovereign's and the Denon's they were selling, but he went with the Sovereign's primarily because of a review the retailer had that gave absolutely glowing praises of the Sovereign DVD player with Faroudja. In addition, the sovereign equipment was much more attractive than the Denon's. When hooked up to the Bose speakers, the Sovereign receiver seemed to be able to produced a somewhat fuller sound, and could drive the Bose 901's (floor standing) significantly better with a more robust low-end than the Denon which seemed to be straining. He almost bought the floor standing Bose, but my step-mom would have had a fit so he went with the bookshelf. I think when he comes up, I will let him go ahead and listen to my setup, he could most likely sell that Bose setup on ebay since it already retailed for more than what my Paradigm's cost, but I might get him into the Paradigm Monitor's instead. This time, for sure I'm going to take him everywhere to listen, he might like teh less detailed, more laid back highs since he likes Bose (which have little to no detail) so he might really enjoy Boston speakers which are beautiful sounding, but a little laid back for me.

 

[ScottCarr]

My philosophy why bose is successful.

women like them because they disappear in nearly any decor.

Most men are tone deaf or deaf from year of working in noisy environments and listening to the constant nagging of their wives.

for those with large speakers systems and that do not work in noisy environments they have so much ear damage from listening to large systems at high volumes trying to drown out the nagging.

Just kidding.

My honest opinion bose is a great product for what it is but severly overpriced.....If it was 1/4 the price it would be a value in my eyes.

 

[JeremyR]

I know part of it is because they can disappear in any decor, but even the ones that don't disappear and take up as much space as any other speaker, such as the 301's and that vcs-10 center don't sound worth a hoot.

 

[Dan Halchak]

I know it's your opinion, but I would not call Bose a "great" product. It's a Good or "Okay" product. There is nothing special about them and if their speakers were the same price as say, JBL, Klipsch, Yamaha, Sony, blah blah blah, I still think the JBL, Klipsch, Yamaha, Sony, etc. still sound better. Maybe mediocre at best is what I would call Bose.

 

[ScottCHI]

i'll never forget the first time i heard someone's 901s in the 70s, though.

 

[Jesse Sharrow]

ARE YOU COMPARING BOSTONS TO BOSE! I WILL GET YOU!
Just kidding. I love the sound of my bostons but I agree they are a bit laid back.

 

[JeremyR]

LOl.. never would I compare Boston to Bose. I loved the Boston's, and was pretty sold on them when I was shopping around. The dealer wouldn't work much with me though, so I thought I'd do a little more shopping around. That's when I ran across the Paradigm dealer, and discovered I liked the more forward highs in the Paradigms better for home theater purposes.

 

[ScottCarr]

Dan

I stand by my statement. Bose is a great product for what it is. The sound they can produce is pretty good. I should say it is all relative of course. If they charged $250 for the bass module and 7 sets of cubes I would recommend it to anyone. But at the prices they charge I would only recommend it to people I don't like.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Hey, don't knock Yamaha HTiBs! I had one and was quite happy with it!

Seriously, though, those Yamaha HTiBs do represent, IMHO, good value for money for someone taking a first dip into HT. My set was a mere S$800 (US$470) for "receiver", 5 speakers and sub. It wasn't half bad with music either. Nowadays Yammie has gotten even slicker by packaging the similar 5.1 speakers with a "proper" receiver (their RX-V340), thereby easing the upgrade path.

 

[JeremyR]

Oh no, wasn't knocking them at all. It was a great system that kept him happy for a long time, it was pretty old though, and only had Pro Logic so it was definitely time to upgrade. Though I personally think he might have been better off keeping the Yamaha HTIB speakers than those Bose speakers.